Filipina Amit is 9-Ball Pool World Champion

Filipina Amit is 9-Ball Pool World Champion

The 27 year old downed Liu, the 2006 Doha Asian Games gold medalist who reigned as world 9-ball queen in 1999 and 2004, with her superb shot-making to the delight of the appreciative weekend crowd.
The Philippines’ Rubilen Amit trounced two-time world titlist Liu Shin Mei of Chinese Taipei, 10-4 to rule the 2009 JBETpoker.net Women’s World 9-Ball Championship at The Block of the SM North Edsa in Quezon City. After she sank the final ball, Amit knelt in triumph, got up, hugged Liu and shook hands as confetti fell on them. She became the first 9-ball champion ever in the event, which was a recent addition to the sport. “Maraming salamat po, kayo ang ang nagpanalo sa akin (Thank you very much. I won because of you),” said Amit, who dedicated her triumph to her parents, patron Puyat Sports, and a certain “Tito Tolits” who recently passed away. The win by the pocket-sized Filipina earned her a whopping purse of $20,000 while Liu pocketed $9,000. She took the early initiative in the finals with a 6-3 lead. But Liu threatened, only to suffer a couple of miscues and allow the local favorite to take a 7-4 lead.

The crowd started to cheer loudly after Amit went ahead at 8-4 and louder when she sank a magical, double-rail shot on the No. 5 to reach the hill. It was all Amit in what proved to be the tournament’s final rack. It was Amit’s first international victory since falling short in the 2007 Amway World Women’s 9-Ball Championship in Chinese Taipei where she finished second.

“I didn’t expect to win. I only realized I won when I sank the final ball,” said Amit, a three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist including a pair in the 2005 Manila Games. More importantly, Amit joined the ranks of countrymen Efren “Bata” Reyes, Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan and Ronnie Alcano, who have won world titles in 9-ball and 8-ball. Reyes, adored by many because of his skills and humble demeanor, won the 9-ball title in 1999 and 8-ball in 2004, Alcano the 9-ball and 8-ball titles in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and Pagulayan the 9-ball plum in 2004. “It feels great being in that company,” said Amit, who is now 2-1 in her head-to-head duel with Liu. Earlier, Amit broke out of a close game by hitting the shots that mattered most to overcome a tough Akimi Kajitani of Japan, 9-6, in the semifinals. Amit made it this far by trouncing a heavily favored Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee of the United States in a nerve-wracking 9-8 hill-hill quarterfinal victory. Before that, the Cebu-born, Taguig-based Amit downed Julie Kelly of Ireland, 8-4, and Tan Hsiang Ling of Chinese Taipei, 8-3, in the first two rounds of the knockout phase also Friday. It was her eighth straight triumph since opening her campaign with a 1-5 setback to world No. 1 Kelly Fisher of England, who was booted out in the quarters by Liu in another hill-hill win, 9-8.

GOODNEWSPILIPINAS

Belmopan Guinness 9-Ball Tournament

The Belmopan Guinness 9-ball tournament.

In game 1 Donaldo Welders welded Las Palmas Strikers, 4-1. Yes, two teams of Cotton Tree clashed, but Welders were on a roll. Winning for Welders were Rafael Moldano, who beat Nally Guy, 5-3; Donaldo Murillo, who took care of David Palma, 5-3; Roberto Sanabria, who also whapped his opponent, Noe Palma, by 5-3; and Mario Lopez, who won Eggy Guy by 5-4. For Las Palmas, it was Mainor Segastume, who has the best record for his team, to blank Manuel Barrientos, 5-0.

In game 2 Saldivar SharpShooters were up 3-0 over Fort Point Security, but they shot-out the lights, causing power outage, so two more matches did not play. They will be played when the teams meet in the second round of the tournament. Winning the first three matches for Saldivar SharpShooters were: Densford Mangar, who mashed Cyrus Mira, 5-1; Elroy Grinage, who came close to beating Carmen Zetina, 5-0, but ended the game in 5-1; and Clifford King, who won Samantha Metzger, 5-3; but it was interesting to see Samantha make King sweat and put on his game face. Gerson Zetina of Fort Point Security was up over Dale Gillett, 2-1; and the Juan Villanueva and Delon Garbutt game did not play due to blackout.

In game 3 Las Flores won Salvapan Shattaz, 4-1. Las Flores, who are looking really good, got the big “W”, though some would say that it was because two of Shattaz top players did not show-up; but, big up the Las Flores Strikers! For Las Flores, Oscar Avelar showed Juan Gusman that he’s got game, by striking him, 5-2; Salvador Orellana calmly disciplined the captain of Shattaz, Elder Paredes, 5-3; Julio Hernandez won Wayne Wiltshire by default; and Adali Alvarez won Ernest Borland, also by default. Winning for Shattaz was Erwin Paredes, who hurt Elias Hernandez.

In game 4 Gunslingers beat San Martin Dolphins, 3-2. For Gunslingers, Pedro Escobar defeated Luis Najera, 5-4; Teo Fernandez embarrassed Francisco Coxic, 5-ZIP; oh boy, Teo is back; and David dropped Victor Orellano, 5-3. In the losing effort for Dolphins, big-up Moises Aguirre, who cramped Kenny Arnold, 5-3; and Luis Palma, who took out Corporal Thomas Myers, 5-4.

In game 5 Burners burned Las Palmas Strikers, 3-2. For Burners, Stanley Mira burned David Palma, 5-4. Stanley was down, but made a great comeback to drop David. Erwin Woodye, Jr. had luck on his side, as he won Edmund Guy, 5-4; and Brian Mira won Nally Guy, 5-4. Nally should have won the game, but we would say the umpire’s mistake was Brian’s beefsteak. In the losing effort, Rueben Ruiz downed Darwin Woodye, 5-2; and Mainor Segastume worked Ally Arnold, 5-1.

In game 6 Salvapan Shattaz defeated Saldivar SharpShooters, 3-2. This could easily be previews of coming attractions in the play-offs, as these two teams, I would bet, will be in the play-offs. For Shattaz, Ernest “Puff” Borland defeated his good friend Elroy Grinage, 5-3. Interestingly, Elroy had been saying that he wanted to play Puff. Hey, Elroy, be careful what you wish for; you just might get it. Juan Gusman demolished Densford Mangar, 5-1; and Wayne Wiltshire made Juan Villanueva look like a rookie, by whapping him, 5-0. Oh no, can you believe Juan taking 5-0? Oh yes, it is not a dream; it’s for real.

In game 7 Gunslingers gunned down Donaldo Welders, 4-1. For Gunslingers, Teo Fernandez shot-down Santos Palma, 5-3; I told you Teo is back; Ernest Turner sailed Saam Yaam away, 5-3; Corporal Thomas Myers handcuffed Mario Lopez, 5-2; and Captain Bruce Pelayo humiliated Rafael Maldano, 5-1.

In game 8 Saldivar SharpShooters blanked Burners, 5-0. For SharpShooters, Juan Villanueva had blood in his eyes from his last match, and took it out on Erwin Woodye, by banging him, 5-1; you da di man, Juan; Elroy Grinage, who was beaten 5-0 by a burner player in the first match, said it was pay back time, and did just that, as he blanked Ally Arnold, 5-0.

40,000 nine ball sites has been attack the malware name “HTML:Iframe-inf”.

The attack is called “Nine-Ball” because of the name of the final, malicious landing page, which is loaded with drive-by exploits, that unsuspecting users automatically are redirected to if they visit one of the compromised sites.

A new threat dubbed “Nine-Ball” has compromised up to 40,000 legitimate websites, which are, in turn, infecting users with an information-stealing trojan, according to security vendor Websense.

Ninetoraq.in, the exploit site, contains malicious code that looks for already patched vulnerabilities in Acrobat Reader, QuickTime, Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) and AOL SuperBuddy, which it then attempts to exploit, Stephan Chenette, manager of security research at Websense, told SCMagazineUS.com on Wednesday.

The flaws have all been patched; some date back to 2006, Chenette said. But, the Reader and QuickTime vulnerabilities are newer, making it less likely that users are patched for them. If the malicious code finds an unpatched vulnerability to exploit, it either drops a malicious PDF file or a trojan designed to steal user information, Chanette said.

All of the exploits currently have low detection rates, he added.

The 40,000 legit but compromised websites were “sleeping” up until Monday, Chanette said. Before then, if a user visited one of them, they were redirected to Ask.com. On Monday, though, the attack updated and users started being redirected to the ninetoraq malicious site.

Currently, users who visit one of the compromised sites are first sent through a chain of redirections before landing on the final exploit site ninetoraq. Though users simply see the normal content on the infected page, the redirections would occur in the background without their knowledge — so a user would not see that they are on the ninetoraq site. By sending users through numerous redirections, it makes the job of tracking the attackers more difficult, Chanette said.

During the redirections, a visitor’s IP address is recorded. If the IP address is determined to be new, the user is directed to the exploit payload site. But if the user’s IP address has already been recorded, they are directed from the compromised site to the benign site Ask.com — which they would see happen, Chanette said.

The reason attackers have included this feature could be to evade security companies who are probing the infected sites and attempting to analyze the attack — one might assume the attack no longer works, because they are being directed to a benign site.

Websense researchers determined that the compromised sites are not running a common piece of software, which means the sites have been injected with malicious code via stolen credentials that have been previously obtained.

Getting rid of the problem requires multiple steps, Chanette said. Website owners must look at their site’s source code for obfuscated or scrambled code. Then they need to change the credentials to all accounts that can access that website.

Chanette said that none of the 40,000 infected sites for this particular attack are well-known brands.

“Attackers are going after quantity and not quality,” Chanette said. “If they go after big name websites, they are shut down faster.”

Over the past several months, there have been similar mass-injection attack waves like this every few weeks, Neil Daswani, co-founders of web anti-malware vendor Dasient, told SCMagazineUS.com Wednesday.

A similar threat, called Gumblar, made headlines recently for compromising approximately 60,000 legitimate websites. In addition, another mass-injection attack, Beladen, was said to have infected 40,000 websites.

Daswani said that in the past two years there has been a 600 percent increase in the number of trusted websites being used as malware distribution points. Compromised websites face a number of consequences, including being blacklisted by search engines, which typically causes a significant drop in traffic.

“Once they clean up, the challenge is to try and get back traffic,” Daswani said. “From businesses we have spoken to, once they clean up, it’s very hard to get back to [the former] traffic level because there’s a loss of consumer confidence.”

http://www.scmagazineus.com

Amateur 9-Ball Classic Continues

Great Southern Billiard Tour whittles field down to 32

Thirty-two of the original 61 players who started the day are moving into Sunday play in the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s Choo Choo Amateur 9-Ball Classic. The tournament, which is taking place at Diamond Billiard Club in Chattanooga, TN, features some of the most recognizable amateurs in the south to include Landon Shuffett, Mike Laney, Danny Smith and Bill Bailey. However, as play on Saturday came to a close, some of those names found themselves on the wrong side of the tournament chart or out of the tournament.

Mike Laney was one who could not navigate the tough field, getting knocked out of the tournament early Saturday evening. Other top players finding the way difficult going are Russ Edwards, Danny Smith, and Bill Bailey. Top names still fighting in the winners’ bracket are Landon Shuffett, Diamond Billiard Club proprietor Davey Crockett Jr., Josh O’Neal, and Arlo Walsman.

Play will begin again on Sunday at 12:00pm with 1-loss bracket action. Some of the feature matchups going into day 2 of this $1500 added tournament are Josh O’Neal vs. Landon Shuffett, Arlo Walsman vs. Matt Reed and Daniel McKinney vs. Jimmy Dickerson, all on the winners side. Top names still alive on the one-loss side include Bill Bailey, Smith, David Rice, Russ Edwards, Nicholas Hickerson and Jason Jahop.
Thirty-two of the original 61 players who started the day are moving into Sunday play in the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s Choo Choo Amateur 9-Ball Classic.

Landon Shuffet will compete to Arlo Walsman at the finals. But Arlo Walsman won in the Great Southern Billiard Tour Choo Choo Amateur 9 Ball Classic

Thirty-two of the original 61 players who started the day are moving into Sunday play in the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s Choo Choo Amateur 9-Ball Classic.

Players are using the GSBT’s newly implemented, and popular, handicapping format. Players who are rated an “AA” have to go to 10 games, “A” players have to go to 9, and “B” players have to go to 7 in an alternate break race. This format levels the playing fields for multiple skill levels in the amateur ranks.

Coin Operated Billiard Tables As A Business

Coin Operated Billiard Tables As A Business

The game of billiards has caught the interest of many people around the world. It’s great for leisure, entertainment and even business purpose. Using billiards for business typically involves business owners by time rental or per game. One way to make money from billiard tables is to use coin operated billiard tables.

Coin operated billiard tables are billiard tables which release the billiard balls once a certain amount of money in coins is inserted into the coin slot. The coin slots on the table may function mechanically or electronically.

The mechanical coin operated billiard tables are made of metal. The coins are inserted into slots provided on the sliding mechanical rack. Once all the coins are entered into the slots, the mechanical sliding rack is pushed into the billiard table. When the mechanical rack releases the coins, it trigger’s a mechanism which releases the balls into the billiard table’s ball compartment.

Electronic coin operated billiard tables may provide a slot wherein are simply inserted one-by-one. Once the required amount is inserted and detected by the computerized operation system, the balls are released. Some of these electronically configured billiard tables may even accept paper money.

Coin operated billiard tables typically charge per game. The advantages of using coin operated billiard tables are that they require no monitoring and no manpower. They are also economical. The disadvantages of using them include that some tables may malfunction or get damaged (repairs may be costly), and if placed in an unsecured area, theft is a possibility.

The disadvantages may be more evident if the billiard table is poorly made, while they may not even be apparent if the coin operated billiard table is made properly. It all depends on the quality.

For those who are interested in starting a business from coin operated billiard tables, the numerous options available can be discovered on the Internet.

Alex Pagulayan’s representation claim. . .

Alex Pagulayan’s representation claim the suit against the billiard association is strong.

“After a thorough evaluation of the evidence, we found out that we have a good case against officials of the BSCP. Alex Pagulayan’s stature as a world champion and national sports icon deserve nothing but accolade and respect. The respondents clearly put my client in bad light when they accused him of sharking before the international media,” said Alexis Abastillas-Suarez.

Because of the alledged wrongdoing, Alex Pagulayan is asking moral and exemplary damages. He claims that a P3-million endorsement deal from Andok’s Litson alone.

“I was accused of something I have never done. It was never my intention to put myself and the country in shame. Ngayon, bahala na ang korte ang magdesisyon kung sino ang tama at mali sa pangyayaring ito,” said the 29-year-old Fil-Canadian, who rose to prominence after winning the 2004 World Pool championship.

This lawsuit is reminiscent of a similar accusation in 2007 against the has accused the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines of being vindictive following his refusal to participate in a TV program series being produced for Philippine television.

Alex Pagulayan revealed that when he was called to a meeting about the TV show he made it clear that he was a professional and ?money talks? adding that “?if they want to use me and make money off me, I need to make money too”.? His statements were apparently not well received. Neither was his demand to be compensated. He said “so now they are getting back at me.”

Alex Pagulayan made the statement after the BSCP replaced him as a member of the four-man Philippine team that is scheduled to compete in the Guinness Asia 9-Ball Tour in Shanghai. China on August 3-5. He also said that he had ?spent money for his plane fare to come, missed a couple of tournaments and exhibition matches? which deprived him of earnings. Alex Pagulayan said ?its good that they did this so “I can now go to media and tell them what has been happening”.?

BSCP president Ernesto Fajardo told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that Alex Pagulayan was replaced because he was ?clowning around too much in the semi finals of the Singapore leg? of the tour. However, Fajardo admitted that the sponsors of the tour, Guinness and the TV broadcaster ESPN Star Sports had not complained about Alex Pagulayan’?s antics which is an integral part of his character and which fans have often appreciated because, as Pagulayan says, “?I entertain the fans”.?

Fajardo said the decision to replace Alex Pagulayan with Jeffrey De Luna was made by the BSCP executive committee since the Guiness 9-Ball Tour was ?sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiards Union and the World Pool Association and the invitation to nominate two players was coursed through the BSCP which is the National Sports Association.

Alex Pagulayan lost an exciting match against Malaysia’s Ibrahim Amir 11-13 where both men played some great shots. ESPN reported that a visibly disappointed Alex Pagulayan said “it was a bad loss for me to take because I really wanted to make my country proud and produce our first winner this year.” Alex Pagulayan said he was “hoping to make up for the loss in Shanghai” but has, by the action of the BSCP been denied that chance and he clearly feels bad about it.

How to Break in 9-Ball Billiards (by Steve Mizerak)

Mizerak says that there is a common problem in most people’s break, so we’ll cover that off before getting in to the details. He says that “the major mistake people make on the break is having a wild cue ball.” So with that, remember that control is of the utmost importance during a break. Don’t sacrifice it for power.

In the 9-ball Break, your main goal is “to sink a ball to have a shot at the next one,” says Mizerak. This is unlike the straight pool break shot, where you are simply trying to block your opponents. Additionally, Steve says that “your best chance to accomplish the goal is for all of the balls in the rack to be frozen.” He goes on to note that in straight pool, at least the back five balls in the rack must be tight, and in 9-ball, all of the balls must be tight. Since 9-ball is the name of the game, you are going to need to move that ball, which is in the middle of the rack. If the balls are loose, as opposed to frozen, it will not move anywhere. This happens because if the balls in the rack are not frozen, they will not travel as far when your cue ball comes in to contact with them, so you need to make sure “all the balls in the rack are solid-frozen.”

When breaking in general, you should keep the following points in mind about how to to a proper break shot:

* Don’t shoot from next to the head spot on the head string and hit the 1-ball in the rack straight on. Here, you will contact the cue ball just above center. some players still do it this way, but most professionals do not.
* Use “floating cue ball” where you can move it anywhere along the head-string and shoot.
* Hit the cue ball a tip’s height above center and have it strike the 1-ball flush. This will cause the cue ball to carom away from the 1-ball slightly and come to a dead stop. This is what we want to happen.
* Remember, a major mistake on the break is allowing a wild cue ball, which can fly off the table or scratch in a pocket.
* The key is to control the cue ball. If necessary, sacrifice speed, but always be sure to get control of that cue ball.

The last bullet Steve emphasizes often, saying that “wild cue balls occasionally plague even the best competitors.” He remembers when an opponent’s weakness in this important area allowed him to take victory.

“About what seems like a hundred years ago, I played Allen Hopkins. With the score 10-10, he broke, and his cue ball jumped the table. He left me with a 1 and 9 combination. It was a tough shot, but I made it. His wild break cost him the game.”

He also repeats his theory on cue ball position for the break, and in fact did so when talking about a Houston tournament. He won that, and he says that cue ball position played a large part in that.

“Early in the tournament, I was breaking from the right side of the head string and not making anything. So I moved over to the left side and started making everything. The one place you shouldn’t move it, though, is back near the head rail. That’s one of the worst things you can do, because you lose power, and when you lose power you’re sacrificing the strongest part of your break.”

Mizerak says that If you want to know how to break properly in billiards, you need to remember that Whenever you hit something, the velocity is greatest right at impact. The closer you get to the rack, the better so hug the line. “The closest you can legally get on the break is to have your cue ball stationed along the head string, so get your cue ball as close to the rack as possible and hit it with authority, but without letting it go wild,” Steve says.

In a nutshell, you should sacrifice a some speed and power for control, which is the most important thing.

Efren “The Magician” Reyes Is Back On Top

Efren “The Magician” Reyes Is Back On Top

The Filipino billiards star Efren “The Magician” Reyes regained his status as the top billiards moneymaker in billiards, while newly-crowned Filipino world champ Ronnie Alcano follows hot on his heels.

cashed $2,000 of Efren “The Magician” Reyes for ninth-place finish in his recent 2007 World 8-Ball Championship held in the United Arab Emirates to hike his total of $39,350.

In his collection was enough to snatched top from the American Johnny “The Scorpion” Archer. Efren “The Magician” Reyes ws also the biggest earner in the year 2006 with a his new record $644,960 total.

5(five) other Filipinos are in the top 20 worldwide, underscoring the country’s dominance of the Billiards world. “This is yet another testament to the Filipino continued domination of the sport. The reality is that the Filipinos is dominating the billiards industry in all fronts, and to the things are going on, we’re on track for another banner year, maybe better than last year,” said Ernesto Fajardo, president of the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines.

Filipino pool shooters of all the skill levels constantly play to a Straight Pool, in a game which has all but vanished from the United States and other venues of this game. Straight Pool builds any player’s skills quickly to the way of there carreer, one of the many reason why the Philippines’ champions have reached their ascendancy of our sport.

George Breedlove another American, who won the Skins Billiards Championship in the Massachusetts, also last month, at rank 3 with $29,100 in his pocket.

The former three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Warren Kiamco at ranked sixth with $19,600, but $1,600 of coming from his awe-inspiring sweep at the US Bar Table Championship in Nevada two weeks ago.

Followed by Rodolfo Luat who had $17,100, while Dennis Orcollo at rank 11 with $14,800.
The former world no.1 Francisco “Django” Bustamante slid at rank 15 from rank 11 with $10,000, while the Filipino pool legend Jose “Amang” Parica at rank 17 with his $8,670.

Also in the list are rank 5 Niels Feijen ($24,250),rank 8 Mika Immonen ($15,250), rank 9 John Schmidt ($15,000), rank Steve Moore ($14,800), rank 12 Jason Miller ($14,550), rank 13 Shannon Daulton ($14,350), rank 14 Corey Deuel ($11,110), rank 16 Rafael Martinez ($9,445), rank 18 Billy Palmer ($8,325), rank 19 David Gutierrez ($8,130), and rank 20 Danny Harriman ($8,050).

Juniors players open Super B 9-ball today (Sun Star)

BEFORE the Philippines’ top cue artists battle it out for the coveted P400,000 top purse, the young future billiard stars will be boasting their skills today for the Elementary and High School Division competition of the first Senate President Manny Villar Cup–Sun.Star Superbalita 9-Ball Challenge at the Atrium of SM City Cebu.

Tolono T-ball field to honor girl who died in 2007 (The Champaign News-Gazette)

TOLONO – A new T-ball field in Tolono will be dedicated Saturday to a 9-year-old girl who died last year. The Mary Kate T-Ball Field in West Side Park will be dedicated in memory of Mary Kate Douglas at 9 a.m. Saturday. Mary Kate was a Unity West Elementary School third-grader who died Jan. 26, 2007, and who loved playing in the local T-ball program.